One of my favorite things to do as your District Vice-President is to attend monthly meetings and flying events in our district. So I was happy to oblige Mike Stone and the Gilman Spring Flyers when they invited me to their World War I Fly-In. When I arrived the skies resembled Europe in 1915. A cavalcade of beautiful scale models traded blows in mock aerial combat. Twenty-four pilots flying 33 models made for a lot of fun. I noticed a substantial group of spectators enjoying the goings on. A full-scale Folker DR.I fly-by was a big crowd pleaser, as was a free-flight demonstration during the noon time break. As I mentioned I love to come to events like this so if you have something exciting please let me know and I’ll do my best to be there. Photos from the event are right here.

A new tradition was started with the Donnie Leseberg Memorial IMAC contest April 20, 21, & 22 at the Tucson International Modelplex Park TIMPA. Donnie was involved in an automobile accident traveling home from last year’s Tucson Shootout, both of Donnie’s children were in the car with him at the time, they survived but sadly Donnie did not. Tony Russo from Desert Aircraft organized the program which attracted 30 pilots from all over the Southwest. The Leseberg family was extremely grateful for the support and generosity of everyone who attended and the outpouring of generosity from the R/C community in general, including all the businesses that sponsored the event and the individuals that donated their time to make it all happen. Noteworthy of this event was that it was Donnie’s son Cole’s first time competing. He placed 5th in Basic. All proceeds from the event were donated to the Donnie Cole Leseberg Fund. If you would like to donate to this fund which benefits Donnie’s young son and daughter you can do so at any Wells Fargo Bank. The donation should be made to, The Donnie Cole Leseberg Memorial Trust, Trustee: Mark E. Leseburg, Account Number: 55934667638. You can also do so online at with a credit card or paypal right by going to the trust’s webpage which is right here. To read TIMPA’s coverage of the event click right here. The contest results are here.

One thing that I’ve found as I travel our district is that the clubs that are most involved with their community tend to be the most secure. One excellent way to connect with your neighbors, and build your club’s membership is through having regularly scheduled learn to fly sessions. I’d like to help your club accomplish this. The AMA has taken delivery of a large number of basic 4 channel FM radios courtesy of Hitech. They come in two versions, one with a standard receiver, and 3 servos, and a second with a lightweight receiver and 2 micro servos for small foamies. They have a trainer jack and are compatible with a JR Instructor’s transmitter. I will provide these to any club that requests them for their trainer fleet for the cost of shipping. In addition if you have a young underprivileged member who needs a radio system I will extend the offer to them too, please contact me if you are interested.

Congratulations to the Kona Radio Control Flyers, and Conejo Valley Flyers. Both of these D10 clubs were awarded AMA Flying Site Assistance Grants to cover 10% of the costs for the improvements they made to their fields. Take advantage of this benefit the AMA provides to its clubs and make your own field better in the process. Next year’s grant requests will be due in spring 2013.